[Handplates chapter references: Can you overclock a hand reader, evidence, what evidence, It's a real get-together, I got something special to show you]

It felt like the darkness swallowed them alive as the two skeleton brothers walked further down the hallway. It was eerily quiet, only their footsteps audible against the stone flooring, which were echoed back by the sterile green-ish walls.

"kinda dark in here, huh?"

"A LITTLE...DOES IT LOOK FAMILIAR?"

Sans glanced up at Papyrus: "i mean...it's dark. it kinda all looks the same, doesn't it?"

The further they walked, the farther away the door and only source of light became.

"...YEAH. I WAS JUST HOPING WE'D REMEMBER SOMETHING."

"might have to look around a bit longer for that."

They finally reached the end of the hallway, another set of doors lined up in front of them. All of them were shut.

Papyrus confidently walked up to the one closest to them and put his hand back on the reader before looking back at Sans: "WELL THEN, LET'S LOOK EVERYWHERE! STARTING WITH THIS ROOM!!"

He waited for a moment, his eyes closed in an almost over-confident manner.

As nothing happened, he opened them again, looking at Sans with mild annoyance: "SANS, COME OVER HERE AND PUT YOUR HAND ON THE THING!"

"don't you think this is kinda weird..?", asked Sans carefully.

"WHAT IS?"

He eyed the hand reader, not entirely comfortable about saying his thoughts out loud: "that all these doors are locked with this weird hand reader thing, and we can't open 'em alone, it needs both of us...like, are we not enough on our own, or..?"

Papyrus did not seem as concerned as Sans about this. In fact, he looked rather enthusiastic.

"OH! THAT GIVE ME AN IDEA, SANS?"

Sans looked up at his brother questioningly.

"YOU KNOW HOW WE CAN DO REALLY COOL ATTACKS WHEN WE HOLD HANDS?"

"....yeah, like we're charging each other up."

"MAYBE THAT'S WHAT WE NEED TO DO! WE SHOULD CHARGE EACH OTHER UP AND THEN TOUCH THE THINGY! WE'LL BE SO POWERFUL, ALL THE DOORS WILL OPEN AT ONCE!"

Sans raised a brow, nervously scratching the back of his neck. It sounded like a ridiculous idea but perhaps...

"...i mean, i guess that makes sense, but..."

"I'M SURE IT WILL WORK! COME ON, SANS."

Without another second to waste, Papyrus clasped his brother's hand. He took a small breath, bracing himself: "HERE, WE, GO!"

Papyrus put his on the reader. At first, only one light flickered until suddenly all three of them flared up.

The short feeling of joy in their chests was quickly replaced as the console itself started to glow faintly and before either of them could react, blue sparks of electricity and magic shot out of the console, causing the brothers to stumble back.

Instinctively, Papyrus pulled Sans behind himself to shield him from any possible damage as they both fell to the ground.

It took a moment for both of them to recover from the initial shock, Sans carefully pushing himself off the ground and searching for any injuries on his brother's body: "are you okay??"

"UH...", Papyrus stared at the console, taken back by the force that came with the blow.

"YES, I AM FINE! AND..."

His eyes trailed to the door.

"MY PLAN WORKED AFTER ALL! ALL THE DOORS ARE OPEN!", he quickly rushed onto his feet and went to help Sans get up.

Sans smiled at that.

From the looks of it, all the doors did open and some of the floor lights had also turned on.

"...yeah, i guess they are."

"ANOTHER TOTALLY INTENTIONAL VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! COME ON, SANS! LET'S KEEP EXPLORING!"

~💙🧡~

Both Papyrus and Sans stood in the doorway of another room, just staring at its interior.

Papyrus slightly leaned down to his brother, his eyes never straying: "YOU KNOW, WHEN THE FLOWER TOLD ME THERE WAS A SECRET DOOR THAT'D EXPLAIN EVERYTHING, I WAS SORT OF PICTURING..."

What they were looking at was literally nothing.

"NOT THIS MANY EMPTY ROOMS."

"yeah, right? there's nothing here. even all the papers are blank. what's that about?"

Papyrus's heart sunk at that but he refused to give up.
There were still some rooms left undiscovered and maybe those would be exactly the ones they needed to make sense of...anything.

"WE JUST HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING, SANS, I'M SURE IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE TO US EVENTUALLY."

As they kept walking, Sans suddenly halted, staring at something and quirking his brow lightly: "...huh."

"WHAT IS IT?"

Sans was looking into an empty room which held nothing but a chair that was mounted into the floor.

"...does this room give you a weird feeling?"

Papyrus took a moment to truly feel this place and its atmosphere.

"...IT DOES."

"it feels like...something's missing, right?", Sans's words echoed through the empty room and they both walked further inside.

Subconsciously, Papyrus's eyes wandered to the ceiling.

It had the same tiles as in every room but there was a big hole in the center of it, as if something was hung up there and taken out.

"YEAH, SOMETHING...IMPORTANT. THERE MUST BE A REASON FOR ALL THESE ROOMS, RIGHT?"

Sans had meanwhile walked up to the chair, his gloved fingers tracing over the leather of it and gripping the arm rests harshly, testing them.

There was nothing weird about them.

But it felt as if there was something missing about this piece of equipment as well.

"or a reason why they're all empty...", mumbled Sans and carefully patted the seat.

For the entirety of them being in room, both felt on edge and uneasy but it was so subtle that they barely acknowledged it in their minds.

"I DON'T LIKE THIS ROOM.", Papyrus finally spoke up and turned to leave.

Sans quickly joined his brother, giving the chair that stood so ominously all by itself in the center of the room one last glance over his shoulder: "yeah. let's go."

.

.

.

Papyrus huffed angrily as they stepped through yet another door: "ANOTHER EMPTY ROOM!"

They both stood on a higher raised floor as he glared down onto the lower area of the room, which was also empty.

"huh, it's got stairs.", Sans remarked and looked at the stairs, hoping to brighten the mood a little.

"i wonder what this was used for? whoever it was that ran this place sure had space to spare."

The ceiling of this room was rather high, leaving a lot of space for...whatever it was good for.

As Sans looked back down, he noticed that Papyrus had already made his way down the stairs.
He was crawling on all fours, seeming to search for...something with his hands.

"...what'cha doin, bro?"

Sans leaned over the railing, waiting for an answer but Papyrus was too busy to answer, still ferociously feeling the floor: "...HUH. I COULD HAVE..."

"what is it?"

Sans teleported in front of his brother and he finally stopped searching, taking the moment to look at him: "I DON'T KNOW, I JUST GOT THE FEELING THERE WAS A PUZZLE HERE. LIKE A NICE SPIKE TRAP, OR A COLORED TILE, OR A TRAP DOOR, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT..."

Sans knelt down too, his eyes lazily scanning the floor: "floor looks solid to me..."

"THAT FEELING MUST MEAN SOMETHING RIGHT? THAT MEANS WE'RE REMEMBERING, RIGHT?"

"do you remember what you're looking for? in this room i mean?"

Papyrus averted his eyes, clearly frustrated with himself and his memory: "...NO. BUT, IT MUST MEAN SOMETHING, RIGHT?"

The taller skeleton repeated his question as if trying to reassure himself.
He did not seem as convinced anymore as he was before and Sans could clearly tell that this was starting to tear his brother apart.

"I BET IF WE KEEP LOOKING WE'LL REMEMBER EVENTUALLY! IT WILL ALL ADD UP!", stated Papyrus and Sans couldn't help but narrow his eyes at that.
He was concerned for his brother.

They went through most of the rooms already and all of them were mostly empty so chances were pretty low that the last remaining ones would be any different.

They had made no progress at all.

He could not deny that this room...made both of them feel things for unknown reasons but there was nothing that actually helped them remember.

Before Sans could speak up, Papyrus had gotten back onto his feet and walked into the room that was connected to this one: "COME ON, SANS!"

"okay..."

.

.

.

"YES, DEFINITELY WITH THIS ROOM, OUR MEMORIES WILL BE FULLY UNLOCKED, AND WE WILL BECOME FULLY REALIZED SKELETONS WHO HAVE FINISHED OUR CATHARTIC JOURNEY OF EMOTIONAL GROWTH", declared Papyrus as another door slid open in front of them.

He had his eyes closed, secretly dreading what would be hidden behind it but he overplayed it with another burst of confidence.

Sans leaned over slightly to look past him, his hands shoved into his pockets as he took in the inside of the room: "nah, just boxes again."

"WELL WE HAVE TO KEEP LOOKING, SANS!", stated Papyrus as he marched on to the next room.

"WE CAN'T GIVE UP NOW, WE'RE SO CLOSE!"

"right..."

Sans trailed after him, in a slower, more sluggish pace.

As he turned his head to look into another room, he halted and stepped closer to the door: "huh...hey bro, check it out. there's some kinda machine in this one."

Attention immediately perked, Papyrus quickly turned on his heel to join Sans: "OO! INTRIGUING! IS IT A COMPUTER? IT LOOKS TOO BIG TO BE A COMPUTER. IS IT A BOSS COMPUTER?"

They reached the console and Sans pushed a couple of buttons, but none of them triggered the slightest reaction.

The screen remained dark.

"hmm...looks like it's not working. i wonder what it does?"

"MAYBE IT TELLS SKELETONS WHAT THEIR MEMORIES ARE!"

"heh, then we're really outta luck that it's not workin, huh?"

Papyrus felt something brush against the leg of his pants and he looked down to see some kind of black goo seeping through the cracks of the floor.

"...HUH?", was all he could say as he watched its tendrils swirl around and manifest a couple of bones within the tarry mess.

"what...?", asked Sans and leaned over the console to see what his brother was staring at.

The weird creature extended a tendril, pulling something out of its own body and holding it out to Papyrus.
It was a piece of paper with a burnt in hole in the middle.

Papyrus carefully took it from the creature, trying to make out what was on it: "WHAT'S THIS...?"

Sans had walked up to them but the moment he reached them, the creature had vanished while Papyrus kept staring down at the paper in his hands.

"hey, what is....it's gone."

"IS THIS US...?", asked Papyrus, the confusion in his voice clear.
He could clearly make out the stick figures.

The one on the left resembled him to a certain extent and the one on the right seemed to be Sans but...who were they holding hands with?
Who were they smiling at?
The face of the stick figure in the middle was burnt away.

"IT SORT OF LOOKS LIKE US, RIGHT?"

"sort of..."

"BUT THEN, WHO'S THIS PERSON? IT'S A PERSON, RIGHT?"

"i can't really tell..."

"AND WHY IS THERE ONLY ONE OF THEM? EVERYONE HAS TWO PARENTS, THAT'S WHAT ASGORE SAID."

"i don't know...why did that thing have it...? what was it...?"

Papyrus kept staring at the picture intensely. He held it closer to his face, hoping it would help anything but all it really was, was a crude drawing of them with...someone.

"ey, bro...check out what i found. it was in a cabinet next to the computer thing.", Sans suddenly spoke up and pulled out a small box.

It seemed like nothing special but as he opened it, it revealed a [favorite flower].

It seemed intact and it was still blooming, not wilted at all.

A faint flicker of [s/c] emitted from it from time to time.

"i almost did not see it because it was so far in the back and it is so dark in here."

Almost immediately, Papyrus snatched the small box and stared at the flower more closely, basically holding it right under his nose: "WOWIE, THIS IS BEAUTIFUL SANS!"

His eyes glistened slightly before his face dropped in realization: "WHAT'S IT DOING HERE?"

It was something neither expected to find in a place like this.

Sans shrugged and took the box from him, storing it in the pocket of his hoodie: "dunno, but it's nice to look at."

"LET'S KEEP IT!", exclaimed Papyrus before he brought his attention back to the single sheet of paper in his hand.

"DO YOU REMEMBER DRAWING THIS PICTURE THOUGH?"

Sans shook his head, answering 'no' while his hand was still fumbling around with the box in his pocket.

He gently traced his fingers across it. It seemed to kind of calm him down, making the atmosphere in this place slightly more bearable.

Papyrus gave the paper one last glance before shoving it into Sans's chest.

Taken back by the impact, he flinched slightly and withdrew his hand from the pocket to grab the paper with both his hands.

"...WELL, NEITHER DO I, BUT I'M SURE IT WILL COME BACK TO US! WITH ALL THESE CLUES WE MUST BE GETTING CLOSER THAN EVER, SANS! WE CAN'T GIVE UP NOW!", exclaimed Papyrus and went to move on.

Sans hesitated, carefully shoving the paper into his pocket as well before following after Papyrus: "i guess..."

~🧡💙~

Now they were sat in the middle of a room, amidst the chaos of opened boxes and scattered papers.

"THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING AROUND HERE..."

Sans pulled a strange device out of one of the boxes. He held it up to inspect it more closely. It had a handle and a trigger of some sort: "huh...what's this...?"

As he pressed the button, the top of the device started rotating quickly, a loud whirring noise coming from it.

Sans was startled as his brother suddenly rushed up at him from behind, snatching that thing immediately out of his hand and yelling angrily: "SANS DON'T TOUCH THAT!!!!"

"woah, calm down bro, it's just a drill.", replied Sans, trying to calm his brother.

He had never seen him suddenly burst out like that.

"IT'S DANGEROUS!", huffed Papyrus slightly irritated and turned away from Sans.

"THAT NOISE IT MAKES IS OBVIOUSLY A WARNING SIGNAL!", he explained, turning the device in his hand to identify any kind of danger.

"it doesn't even have a bit, it's fine. humans use it to...", Sans stopped his sentence, his eyes widening in realization as he stared back down at his plated hand.

"they use it to...", he tried to continue but now he had this strange uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest.

Papyrus turned to Sans, glaring at him: "I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY USED IT FOR, I DON'T WANT YOU HURTING YOURSELF WITH IT!"

"c'mon bro, i-"

"YOU HEARD ME, SANS!!!", shouted Papyrus, still angered. "STAY AWAY FROM IT!!" With a huff, he gathered all his strength to throw it against the nearest wall.

The device broke open with a loud crack before shattering onto the ground, its batteries now rolling across the floor.

"woah woah woah, calm down, calm down.", exclaimed Sans, startled by his brother's anger.

He put up his hands in surrender: "fine, i'll leave it alone, okay? don't gotta blow your top or anything..."

"I'M NOT...", his voice was still laced with irritation, but Papyrus seemed to have calmed down a little as he turned back to Sans.

"I'M NOT GOING TO BLOW ANY TOPS. I'M JUST A LITTLE CONCERNED.", he tried to explain more calmly.

Sans raised a brow, not fully buying his brother's reasoning: "little on edge is more like it..."

"THE...", Papyrus's voice was unnaturally quiet, as if he just realized that he himself did not know what came over him.

He did react rather strongly, he had to admit.

But Papyrus tried to overplay it by putting his confident face on again. He puffed out his chest, placing a hand on it: "THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NEVER ON EDGE!
UNLESS IT'S ON THE EDGE OF POPULAR CONSCIOUSNESS, AS AN UNMATCHABLE ROLE MODEL AND INSPIRATION TO HUNDREDS! PARTICULARLY AFTER I FINALLY ACHIEVE FULL MEMORY RECALL OF MY VERY ILLUSTRIOUS PAST!
COME ON!"

Papyrus gently tugged on Sans's hood, motioning him to continue moving and so they did. "okay, okay..."

A weird sensation ran through Sans's body as he found himself stopping in front of yet another empty room.

It contained nothing but a small bunk bed.

The sight of it made his heart feel heavy.

"SANS?"

Sans flinched as his brother called out to him and he turned back to him: "wha? sorry, i zoned out for a second."

"DID YOU SEE SOMETHING?"

Sans frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down to the floor: "...i haven't seen anything since we went in here."

"...YEAH...ME NEITHER. WELL THERE'S STILL A FEW MORE ROOMS TO GO! SURELY THEY ANSWER WILL BE IN ONE OF THOSE!"